their attempts to block a senate vote on hagel's confirmation have led majority leader harry reid to take the steps necessary to force a vote and end what is now in effect a gop filibuster. this we should note is really fairly unprecedented, especially when you're dealing with national security nominees. athena jones is following developments and is live in our washington bureau. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, john. the key here is senator john mccain. we learned wednesday frp aiom a to mccain that he was reconsidering his pledge not to filibuster the nomination in order to put pressure on the white house to provide more information about the benghazi attack. this is just the latest sign of trouble for hagel. >> the debate on chuck hagel is not over. >> reporter: another roadblock in chuck hagel's quest to take over at the pentagon. >> we don't have the information we need and i am going to fight the idea of jamming somebody through until we get answers. >> reporter: republican lindsey graham repeating a threat to block the vote until he gets an answer from the white house